Jeremiah 47–51

A Message About the Philistines

47A message came to me from the Lord. It was about the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.

²The Lord said,

“The armies of Babylonia are like waters rising in the north.

They will become a great flood.

They will flow over the land and everything in it.

They will flow over the towns and those who live in them.

The people will cry out.

All those who live in the land will sob.

³They will sob when they hear galloping horses.

They will sob at the noise of enemy chariots.

They will sob at the rumble of their wheels.

Fathers will not even try to help their children.

Their hands will not be able to help them.

⁴The day has come

to destroy all of the Philistines.

The time has come to cut off all those

who could help Tyre and Sidon.

I am about to destroy the Philistines.

I will not leave anyone alive

who came from the coasts of Crete.

⁵The people of Gaza will be so sad

they will shave their heads.

And Ashkelon’s people will be silent.

You who remain on the flatlands,

how long will you cut yourselves?

⁶“ ‘Sword of the Lord!’ you cry out.

‘How long will it be until you rest?

Return to the place you came from.

Stop killing us! Be still!’

⁷But how can my sword rest

when I have given it a command?

I have ordered it

to attack Ashkelon and the Philistine coast.”

A Message About Moab

48Here is what the Lord says about Moab.

The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says,

“How terrible it will be for Nebo!

It will be destroyed.

Kiriathaim will be captured.

It will be put to shame.

Its fort will be broken down.

It will be put to shame.

²Moab will not be praised anymore.

In Heshbon people will plan its fall from power.

They will say, ‘Come. Let’s put an end to that nation.’

City of Madmen, you too will be silent because you are sad.

My sword will hunt you down.

³Listen to the cries from Horonaim.

The town is being completely destroyed.

⁴Moab will be broken.

Her little ones will cry out.

⁵The people go up the road to Luhith.

They are sobbing bitterly as they go.

Loud cries are heard on the road down to Horonaim.

People cry out because the town is being destroyed.

⁶People of Moab run away! Run for your lives!

Become like a lonely bush in the desert.

⁷You trust in the things you can do.

You trust in your riches.

So you too will be taken away as prisoners.

Your god Chemosh will be carried away.

So will its priests and officials.

⁸The one who is going to destroy you

will come against every town.

Not even one of them will escape.

The valley and the high flatlands

will be destroyed.

I, the Lord, have spoken.

⁹Sprinkle salt all over Moab.

It will be completely destroyed.

Its towns will be a dry and empty desert.

No one will live in them.

¹⁰“May a person who is lazy when he does my work

be under my curse!

May anyone who keeps his sword from killing

be under my curse!

¹¹“Moab has been at peace and rest from its earliest days.

It is like wine that has not been shaken up.

It has not been poured from one jar to another.

Moab’s people have not been taken away from their land.

They are like wine that tastes as it always did.

Its smell has not changed at all.

¹²But other days are coming,”

announces the Lord.

“At that time I will send people who pour wine from jars.

They will pour Moab out like wine.

They will empty its jars.

They will smash its jugs.

¹³Then Moab’s people will be ashamed of their god Chemosh.

They will be ashamed just as the people of Israel were

when they trusted in their god at Bethel.

¹⁴“How can you say, ‘We are soldiers.

We are men who are brave in battle’?

¹⁵Moab will be destroyed.

Its enemies will march into its towns.

Her finest young men will die in battle,”

announces the King.

His name is The Lord Who Rules Over All.

¹⁶“The fall of Moab is near.

Its time of trouble will come quickly.

¹⁷All you who live around it, sob over its people.

Be sad, you who know how famous Moab is.

Say, ‘Its powerful ruler’s rod is broken!

His glorious staff is smashed.’

¹⁸“Come down from your glorious city, you who live in Dibon.

Come and sit on the thirsty ground.

The one who destroys your country

will come up and attack you.

Your enemies will destroy your cities

that have high walls around them.

¹⁹Stand by the road and watch,

you who live in Aroer.

Ask the men who are running away.

Ask the women who are escaping.

Ask them, ‘What has happened?’

²⁰Moab has been put to shame.

It has been destroyed.

Sob and cry out!

Tell everyone Moab has been destroyed.

Announce it by the Arnon River.

²¹The high flatlands have been judged.

So have Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath.

²²Dibon, Nebo and Beth Diblathaim have been judged.

²³So have Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul and Beth Meon.

²⁴Kerioth and Bozrah have also been judged.

And so have all of the towns of Moab, far and near alike.

²⁵Moab’s power is gone.

Its strength is broken,”

announces the Lord.

²⁶“Moab’s people think they are better than I am.

So let their enemies make them drunk.

Let the people get sick and throw up.

Let them roll around in the mess they have made.

Let people laugh at them.

²⁷Moab, you laughed at Israel, didn’t you?

Were Israel’s people caught among robbers?

Is that why you shake your head at them?

Is that why you make fun of them

every time you talk about them?

²⁸Leave your towns,

you who live in Moab.

Go and live among the rocks.

Be like a dove that makes its nest

at the mouth of a cave.

²⁹“We have heard all about Moab’s pride.

We have heard how very proud they are.

They think they are so much better than others.

Their pride reaches deep down inside their hearts.

³⁰I know how rude they are.

But it will not get them anywhere,”

announces the Lord.

“Their bragging does not accomplish anything.

³¹So I cry out over Moab.

I cry for all of Moab’s people.

I groan for the men of Kir Hareseth.

³²I sob over you as Jazer sobs,

you vines of Sibmah.

Your branches used to spread out.

They went all the way down to the Dead Sea.

They reached as far as the sea of Jazer.

The one who destroys your country

has taken away your grapes and ripe fruit.

³³Joy has left your orchards.

Gladness is gone from your fields.

I have stopped the flow of juice from your winepresses.

No one stomps on your grapes with shouts of joy.

There are shouts.

But they are not shouts of joy.

³⁴“The sound of their cry rises from Heshbon.

It rises as far as Elealeh and Jahaz.

It rises from Zoar.

It goes all the way to Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah.

Even the waters at Nimrim are dried up.

³⁵In Moab people sacrifice offerings on the high places.

They burn incense to their gods.

But I will put an end to those people,”

announces the Lord.

³⁶“Like a flute my heart sings a song of sadness for Moab.

It sings like a flute for the men of Kir Hareseth.

The wealth they had gotten is gone.

³⁷Every head is shaved.

Every beard is cut off.

Every hand is cut.

And every waist is covered with black cloth.

³⁸Sobbing is the only sound in Moab.

It is heard on all of its roofs.

It is heard in the market places.

I have broken Moab

like a jar that no one wants,”

announces the Lord.

³⁹“How broken Moab is! How the people sob!

They turn away from others

because they are so ashamed.

All those who are around them laugh at them.

They are shocked at them.”

⁴⁰The Lord says,

“Look! Nebuchadnezzar is like an eagle diving down.

He is spreading his wings over Moab.

⁴¹Kerioth will be captured.

Its forts will be taken.

At that time the hearts of Moab’s soldiers will tremble in fear.

They will be like the heart of a woman having a baby.

⁴²Moab will be destroyed as a nation.

That is because its people thought

they were better than I am.

⁴³You people of Moab,”

announces the Lord,

“terror, a pit and a trap are waiting for you.

⁴⁴Anyone who runs away from the terror

will fall into the pit.

Anyone who climbs out of the pit

will be caught in the trap.

The time is coming

when I will punish Moab,”

announces the Lord.

⁴⁵“In the shadow of Heshbon

those who are trying to escape stand helpless.

A fire has blazed out from Heshbon.

Flames have come out from Sihon’s city.

It burns the foreheads of Moab’s people.

It burns the skulls of those who brag loudly.

⁴⁶How terrible it will be for you, Moab!

Those who worship Chemosh are destroyed.

Your sons are being taken to another country.

Your daughters are taken away as prisoners.

⁴⁷“But in days to come

I will bless Moab with great success again,”

announces the Lord.

That’s the report about how the Lord said he would judge Moab.

A Message About Ammon

49Here is what the Lord says about the people of Ammon.

He says,

“Doesn’t Israel have any sons?

Doesn’t Israel have anyone

to take over the family property?

Then why has the god Molech taken over Gad?

Why do those who worship him live in its towns?

²But a new day is coming,”

announces the Lord.

“At that time I will sound the battle cry.

I will sound it against Rabbah in the land of Ammon.

It will become a pile of broken-down buildings.

The villages that are around it will be set on fire.

Then Israel will drive out

those who drove her out,”

says the Lord.

³“Heshbon, sob over Ai! It is destroyed!

Cry out, you who live in Rabbah!

Put on black clothes and sob.

Run here and there inside the walls.

Your god Molech will be carried away.

So will its priests and officials.

⁴Why do you brag about your valleys?

You brag that they produce so many crops.

You are an unfaithful country.

You trust in your riches. You say,

‘Who will attack me?’

⁵I will bring terror on you.

It will come from all those who are around you,”

announces the Lord. He is the Lord who rules over all.

“Every one of you will be driven away.

No one will bring back those who escape.

⁶“But after that, I will bless the people of Ammon

with great success again,”

announces the Lord.

A Message About Edom

⁷Here is what the Lord says about Edom.

The Lord who rules over all says,

“Isn’t there wisdom in the town of Teman anymore?

Can’t those who are wise give advice?

Has their wisdom disappeared completely?

⁸Turn around and run away, you who live in Dedan.

Hide in deep caves.

I will bring trouble on Esau’s family…